By Andrew L. Jaffee

Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police in the heart of Iran’s capital Saturday, pelting them with rocks and setting fires in the worst unrest in Tehran in a decade. They accused the hard-line president of using fraud to steal election victory from his reformist rival. …

AP, 6/13/09

A “2-to-1 landslide for Ahmadinejad?” I doubt it, and obviously many Iranians do to, as they are willing to go up against the notorious Islamist security apparatus, which has kept the mullah’s in power since 1979’s “revolution.” Here’s how the “authorities” dealt with protesters today:

… Police fought back with clubs, including mobile squads on motorcycles swinging truncheons. …

Why should Iranians be skeptical about “election” results? In 2004, the Islamists engineered a coup de tat by disqualifying 2,530 of the 8,157 candidates originally on the ballot for parliamentary elections. All the candidates disqualified were “moderates/reformists,” and included 80 already-sitting members of the Iranian parliament (”Majlis”). The terror-masters have continued cleansing the Iranian government of anyone they disapproved of.

The question of the day: Will Iranians keep protesting against predetermined election results?

… The brazen and angry confrontations — including stunning scenes of masked rioters tangling with black-clad police — pushed the self-styled reformist movement closer to a possible moment of truth: Whether to continue defying Iran’s powerful security forces or, as they often have before, retreat into quiet dismay and frustration over losing more ground to the Islamic establishment. …

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Related: Dictator Watch, Elections, Extremists, Iran, Public Opinion, War Against Islamo-fascism

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